Gene Shalit

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Gene Shalit

Gene Shalit (born March 25, 1932 in New York City) is the film and book critic on NBC's The Today Show. He is known for frequent use of puns, oversized handlebar moustache, and for wearing colorful bowties. He is known to have had a rocky relationship with former Today Show co-host Bryant Gumbel. He has been involved in reviewing the arts since 1967. He has written for publications including Look Magazine, Ladies Home Journal (for 12 years), Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamour, McCall's, and The New York Times. In 1987 he published Laughing Matters-A Treasury of American Humor, a critically-praised humor anthology. He currently lives in Massachusetts with his cat Fellini. Shalit is the godfather of radio producer/personality Gary Dell'Abate.

[edit] Brokeback Mountain review controversy

Shalit was harshly criticized by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) for his January 5, 2006, on-air review of the acclaimed film Brokeback Mountain, which he panned. Shalit referred to Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Jack Twist, as a "sexual predator" who "tracks Ennis (Heath Ledger) down and coaxes him into sporadic trysts."

The Advocate noted that the tone of the criticism seems to be at odds with an essay Shalit wrote about his adult gay son in 1997. Shalit speaks highly of his son in this essay, which concludes with the statement, "Let children follow their own star." [1] Peter Shalit wrote a letter to GLAAD defending his father [2] and said GLAAD had defamed him by "falsely accusing him of a repellent form of bigotry."

"In describing the behavior of 'Jack' I used words ('sexual predator') that I now discover have angered, agitated, and hurt many people. I did not intend to use a word that many in the gay community consider incendiary. . . . I certainly had no intention of casting aspersions on anyone in the gay community or on the community itself. I regret any emotional hurt that may have resulted from my review of 'Brokeback Mountain,'" wrote Shalit in a letter to GLAAD.

Shalit's gay son, Peter, told GLAAD, "He may have had an unpopular opinion of a movie that is important to the gay community, but he defamed no one, and he is not a homophobe."